Our COVID Change Challenge

43,502 ish days of quarantine has really provided me with a lot of time to think. One idea I’ve been giving thought to is what COVID has and has not changed in my life.  For instance, COVID hasn’t changed how much I like specialty goat cheese and arugula pizza from a favorite local restaurant here in Phoenix, but it has changed the way in which I acquire and demolish said pizza. COVID hasn’t changed my love for online shopping, but it has changed the style of clothes I shopped for (less buttons, and more elastic please!). COVID hasn’t changed my desire to see and experience the world, but it has canceled a lot of our travel plans. COVID hasn’t changed who I am at my core, but it has altered my perspective on a lot of things.

After reflecting on myself, using what I now call the “COVID CHANGE CHALLENGE,” I started to apply it to other aspects of our life. Following our son Fritz’s diagnosis of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy in 2017, our family started a small non-profit called Fritz&Friends. Our family and our foundation is rooted in the belief that ‘Strength is more than muscle.’ Using that as a starting point, we took time to take the COVID CHANGE CHALLENGE on behalf of our nonprofit. 

COVID hasn’t changed what we believe about strength, but it has changed the way we share this message. COVID hasn’t changed the need to raise money to keep science moving, but it has canceled all our events for 2020. COVID hasn’t changed our mission to find a cure, but it has changed how we go about doing so.  COVID hasn’t changed our desire to be strong on behalf of our son and so many others, but it has changed the ways in which we share strength.

It was in the early days of this pandemic, after all our events were canceled, that we really had to take a step back and think about how we could continue to be strong in the midst of a lot of change. This is really where this whole COVID CHANGE CHALLENGE evolved. We knew we needed to focus on our core belief of; strength being more than muscle, and from there we started to think about what that meant for our nonprofit moving forward.

So we created this list:

Strength is more than muscle; 

Strength is….

• being open to change, not resenting it.
• creative thinking.
• new ideas.
• adapting, not stressing. 
• Learning new things.
• Pivoting.
• Partnering.
• Collaborating.

With that, we shifted. We didn’t change, but we adapted to the change. We knew we still had two goals, two things COVID hadn’t changed; 

+ Our desire to raise awareness by sharing our belief about true strength.

+ The need to continue funding life-saving research on behalf of our son.

We started by focusing on sharing our message and growing our community via social media, instead of in-person events. During this time we raised $6000 in 24hrs with a push-up campaign on our Instagram stories. In addition, we have gained over 200 followers and connected with a lot of great accounts that have shared our story on their platform. We’d encourage you to follow our journey and engage with us on Instagram and Facebook. 

We also pivoted with our merchandise. 

Again, we desire to share our belief of true strength with the world, and fund life-changing research for those living with Rare Disease. At our events, we typically sold various items with our motto “Strength is more than muscle.” But as COVID evolved, we saw a great opportunity to shift our focus from event shops to our online shop (I mean who doesn’t love online shopping right?!) 

We currently sell shirts, hats, bracelets, stickers, mugs, and tote bags. Every penny of proceeds from these products is then used to continue to move science forward, especially during this pandemic. 

It seemed natural to continue this merchandise pivot and create a new product to add to our shop. Given the change COVID has brought to our world, we now carry masks! 

When people purchase & wear our products they share our message with others (goal number one, check!) and simultaneously fund research, keeping science moving to save those fighting rare disease (goal number 2, check!)! When you purchase a mask, or any other product from our shop, 100% of the proceeds fund the work Cure Rare Disease is doing.

COVID hasn’t changed our belief about strength, or the need to keep science moving to save our son, but it has changed the way in which we do both of those things. We encourage you to join us in this unique time of change by checking out our new masks, or any other items in our shop. Now more than ever, nonprofits need people to support the new ways they are adapting to the changes COVID has brought to keep propelling progress. 

Strength is more than muscle; strength is caring, strength is wearing, strength is sharing.